On May 30, 2008, at 7:19 AM, Robert Patterson wrote:
I had a composition teacher in grad school who used to insist that I use "tutte" in the viola section and "tutti" for the other strings. I refused on the grounds that "tutti" is a perfectly good English word that is gender-free (as are "violin" and "viola"). My dictionary backs me up. Some people object to this line of reasoning saying that these words are just commonly used Italian words. But I say that every word in every language came into the language from some other language, and musical terms in English are no exception.
The problem is that "tutte" (and sola, sole, le altre) are widely used by composers whose language is neither English nor Italian. Stravinsky, frinstance. You are perfectly correct on the linguistics issue--but that's simply not the question. The issue is not English vs. Italian, but of orthodox music notation. The situation is similar to the three musical meanings of "horn," which are used in varying contexts. To a classical musician, "horn" means the specific brass instrument that other languages call Horn, corno, cor, etc.; to the lay public, "horn" means "any brass instrument;" and in jazz, "horn" means "any wind instrument." Both of these latter meanings require the modifier "French" to designate the specific instrument. So "French horn" is perfectly correct English, but if you use it in any classical context, you risk having the reader think you're iggerant.
The same thing applies to solo/sola and the rest. Violists (and conductors!) will certainly understand you if you write "tutti", but you risk having them think y'r a doofus.
Unless your name is Percy Grainger, in wh. case y'r merely a crank. Andrew Stiller Kallisti Music Press http://www.kallistimusic.com/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
